Bueter rushes for 335 yards, 6 TDs in Wauseon's 38-6 victory over Liberty Center

9/27/2013

WAUSEON — Wauseon quarterback Ty Suntken handed the football to running back Axel Bueter 18 times Friday night against Liberty Center.

The 6-foot, 160-pound tailback turned the simple handoffs into huge chunks of yardage nearly every time on his way to a school-record 335 rushing yards and five touchdowns was Wauseon rolled to a 38-6 victory.

"It kind of shocked me because I wasn't expecting that," said Bueter. "I just wanted to do my job and try to get the W, but these guys really helped me with a lot of great blocks. It's a great team. It's not just me."

Bueter had touchdown runs of 44, 80, 28, 62 and 17 yards to help Wauseon (5-0, 3-0 NWOAL) remain undefeated halfway through the season.

Bueter broke the record of 305 yards set in the 1990s by Pat Milne.

"He played possessed tonight," Wauseon coach Travis Cooper said. "To tell you the truth, our line played phenomenal. I told our line they were the reason that Axel got that record tonight, and Ty ]Suntken] also.

"When teams have to account for both of those guys those fakes mean a little bit more and I told Ty you can take some pride in Axel getting that record because you know teams are watching you."

It was Wauseon’s most complete game of the season as the defense nearly posted a shutout.

Tigers running back Anthony Righi scored on a five-yard run with 8:43 left in the game. Wauseon's defense denied LC (3-2, 2-2) on four downs inside the Indians 10-yard line with just over three minutes left in the third quarter.

"Our kids came out and played lights out," Cooper said. "I couldn't be more happy for our kids. Another monkey off our backs.

"Napoleon [a win earlier this season] was the first one. I think it's been since 2006 since we'd beaten them. That was a big win for our program."

Tigers coach Rex Lingruen credited the Indians.

"They played really hard," Lingruen said. "They wanted to win more than we did. My hats off to them.

"They played well tonight and we didn't play well enough to win and that's really disappointing. We had some opportunities."

Wauseon's good fortunes started in the first half as Indians were able to take a 17-0 lead into halftime after Bueter scored twice and Josh Whitcomb booted a 36-yard field goal.

Contact Donald Emmons at: demmons@theblade.com, 419-724-6302 or on Twitter @DemmonsBlade.